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b-hebrew - Exodus, Philistines, contra Bimson & Drews

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  • From: "Walter Mattfeld" <mattfeld AT mail.pjsnet.com>
  • To: "Niels Peter Lemche" <npl AT teol.ku.dk>
  • Cc: <b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Exodus, Philistines, contra Bimson & Drews
  • Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2000 07:06:47 +0100


Dear Niels,

Thankyou for your suggestion, I have updated my bibliography:

Professor Lemche in a note to me advised that I could build a stonger case
contra Bimson and Drews by citing from more recent literature rather than
the "dated" 1912 History of Egypt by James Henry Breasted. His point is well
taken. I have assembled more recent citations to back my earlier refutations
to Bimson and Drews, as follows:

From the Anchor Bible Dictionary, 1992:

"The Philistines (Egyptian P-r-s-t-w, Hebrew pelistim)...came partly
overland via Anatolia, destroying the Hittite empire, Ugarit, and
Amurru...they were allied with other Sea Peoples, and their ultimate goal
was to settle in Egypt. In about 1190, Rameses III clashed with them and
defeated them. Rameses settled the conquered Philistines, mostly as Egyptian
mercenaries, in the coastal towns, Gaza, Ashkelon, and Ashdod...THE
REFERENCES TO THE PHILISTINES in Genesis 21:32-34; 26:1, 8, 14-15; and in
Exodus 13:17; 15:14; 23:31, ARE ALL ANACHRONISMS...The signs of destruction
in Ashdod, Ashkelon, and Gaza suggest that sometime after the reign of
Rameses VI (ca. 1150 BCE), the Philistines drove out their Egyptian
overlords by force. The Philistine Pentapolis was formed, a confederation of
Gaza, Ashkelon, and Ashdod, together with...Ekron and Gath..." ( p.326, Vol.
5, H.J. Katzenstein, "Philistines," David Noel Freedman, Editor, The Anchor
Bible Dictionary, New York, Doubleday, 1992)

Claims have been made by Bimson citing Drews that the Philistines spoke a
Northwest Semitic dialect and thus had been in Philista "all along"- they
were not recent arrivals as misunderstood by modern scholarship. I note that
Katzenstein understands that some of their words are not Nortwest Semitic
contra Drews:

"The rulers of these city-states were called seranim (singular seren), a
title whose etymology has not been satisfactorily explained; it may be from
th Hittite word for "judge." (ABD 5.326). Scholars understand that the first
city-states to fall were in Hittite lands (Anatolia, modern Turkey), this
would seem to support my understanding that the Pelest are not native
Canaanites contr Bimson/Drews, they may have been Greek-related peoples from
the Anatolian littoral.

Dothan, contra Bimson and Drews, also understands that "the first
appearance" of the Philistines is in the annals of Rameses III:

"Several key references to the Sea Peoples have been identified in Egyptian
sources. According to inscriptions of Pharaoh Merneptah (ca. 1236-1223 BC),
the Sea Peoples attempted to invade Egypt from the direction of
Libyia...This list of Sea
peoples does not, however, include references to the PHILISTINES and
Tjekker, WHO ARE FIRST MENTIONED as invaders DURING THE REIGN OF RAMESES III
(ca. 1198-1166 BC)." (p.329, Vol. 5, Trude Dothan, "Philistines," ABD,
1992)

I rest my case.

All the best,

Walter

Walter Reinhold Warttig Mattfeld
Walldorf by Heidelberg
Baden-Wurttemburg
Germany





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